Lines Ballet, Kronos Quartet together at last
Mutual admirers David Harrington and Alonzo King find some ‘Common Ground’
Alonzo King has wound himself up into a monologue. A winding speech, profound and mesmerizing, about the common language of art and humanity, the oneness of it all.
When King gets going, one can only listen and try to keep up. And on this afternoon, King’s rhapsodizing — emanating a magnetism that feels appropriate to his legendary reputation as the choreographer of Alonzo King Lines Ballet — feels particularly enhanced.
“This is the thing about what people call difference,” King says. “Science tells us now there is one source, and it’s the manipulation of energies that makes things look different.”
King is disputing the assumption that dance and music, choreography and composing, can be classified in separate lanes. He is referring to the unity between his work and that of David Harrington, the founder of the Grammy Award-winning Kronos
Quartet, who is sitting on his right.
There is certainly a feeling of commonality in many ways as the powerhouse pair trade histories and theories about their process in King’s office. Both arrived in San Francisco decades earlier — this year marks 45 years for Kronos and 35 for King’s Lines — as emerging artists, only to become globe-trotting giants of their craft and synonymous with the city’s arts scene.
“I was noticing during the performance just now — your company, the makeup of your company — is precisely the reason I wanted Kronos to be in this city and I wanted my children to grow up here,” Harrington tells King. “I’m kind of staggered by what I just saw.”
Moments earlier, Harrington had been sitting next to King in a breathtaking rehearsal watching the dancers of King’s company, slick with sweat, running seamlessly through “Common Ground,” the upcoming show premiering at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Friday, Oct. 5. Part of Lines Ballet’s 35th anniversary season, the performance marks the first collaboration between King’s company and Harrington’s Kronos Quartet.
“That’s what I was noticing in the choreography — the designs that the bodies create,” Harrington says. “I can’t wait to go home and just pick up my bow. I was seeing some things there that are going to help me be a better musician.”
The world premiere will feature Kronos Quartet performing music chosen by King from Kronos’ Fifty for the Future initiative — an ambitious project commissioning new work from 50 composers (half women and half men) to be used as free educational resources.
“Really listening isn’t easy, because if you’re thinking of choreography to do to it while you’re listening, you’re not really listening,” King says of selecting the music for the show. “So you have to get to a place where you can empty your head and really receive.”
“It’s actually the same when I’m checking out a new piece,” Harrington later responds. “I’ve never thought about it before, but it’s the same way.”
The collaboration between the two marks a long-awaited partnership that was persistently delayed by hectic international schedules. The two met for the first time last year to discuss creating a work together, a process that is egoless, King says. “The ones who are really in true depth in their work, they’re just concerned about the work.”
Indeed, while reflecting about their careers, the two consistently trail off into shoptalk about the work to be done for the upcoming show. Although they’re both celebrating anniversaries, the two seem to care little about numerical milestones.
“It’s really a lifetime. This aggregation develops, and we give chronological time to it, but he was born that way,” King says, referring to Harrington.
“I guess I always think our best performance is going to be the next one,” Harrington says. “The greatest piece hasn’t been written yet.”
“Yes,” King nods. “Absolutely.”